The Man on the Threshold
by grc73
Summary: Oneshot - Booth is back! Conjecture for 10x01. ***Big fat spoilers for early Season 10 and references to several previous seasons including the S9 finale***. It's a bit like an episode of Seinfeld that nothing really happens, although there is a lot of fluff... A fairly strong T but nothing naughty enough to warrant an M (although I could be persuaded...)


**Well, I seem to be on a bit of a roll at the moment. All that cliffyhangy finale stuff agrees with me, LOL. Thanks to all those of you that have been reading, following and favouriting my other stories, I really do appreciate it. Please feel free to go read some of the older ones as well. **

**So this has been brewing in my brain for a week. A few things Stephen Nathan said after the finale stuck in my head:**

**- There's probably going to be a real-time(****ish) time jump of three to four months.**

**- They are unlikely to be in The Might Hut next season such ****was the physical and psychological damage to the house and their relationship with it.**

**- Booth is a law enforcement officer in jail. That is not necessarily a good place to be in that career.**

**- Booth and Brennan have seen each other, but not been able to tou****ch each other.**

**That set me thinking. The one reassuring thing about this S9-10 hiatus is that Booth and Brennan are so together and so in love that whatever was thrown at them would ultimately just bounce off. And for me, that trumps anything to do with Booth's job, and as I've said recently before, I love them being in love.  
**

**So here is my take on what Booth's first 24 hours of freedom in S10 *could* look like. It's a touch angsty in parts but generally very positive and I think might just be a nice set of suggestive thoughts to get us through the next four months, whatever is to come for our heroes in canon. ****My beta Jen's had a cursory look at most of it but I wanted to get this up whilst it was all still fresh and she has a crazy busy week this week doing worthy and things useful to mankind (bless you Jen, you make the world a better place xx). So once she's had a chance to fully beta it I will repost next week (without this sentence.) So any mistakes for now are all mine.**  


**Like Jon Snow, I know nothing (oooh, little bit of crossover to Game of Thrones for you there) I have nothing but conjecture and my own brain to work with. In any case, I hope you like it. :)**

**I've chatted enough. One last reminder/warning. CONTAINS SPOILERS for Season 10 (as if you'd not seen those already!)  
**

* * *

As he stood at the penitentiary gate, waiting for the creaking metal to slide across to let him pass he considered his situation.

Four months.

- Of not reading his young daughter a story every night.

- Of not Skyping his son twice a week.

- Of not holding his wife in his arms and making love to her until they both saw stars.

And all that needed to be fixed. Never mind the tatters of what was his career and all the crap that was potentially going down with his former employers.

"Mr Booth, you can leave now." Not _Agent_ Booth, but _Mister_ Booth. That stung. He'd not worked so hard in the previous twelve years to lose that title over lies and deceit.

Brennan was standing on the other side, eagerly waiting for him. She'd been allowed to visit him once a week, though through two layers of a thick, bullet proof glass screen, with old-style telephone handsets to talk through. It was heartbreaking not to be able to physically touch each other, but at least they'd been able to communicate directly. They'd exchanged letters as often as possible too, writing back and forth and soon as one received mail from the other, though neither of them was under any illusions that these correspondences might be being monitored. So Brennan was careful with her wording in those meetings, and in those letters, and so was he, but by now they were almost psychic in their non-verbal communications and just by her demeanour in those meetings and her careful use of language in those letters, he had a fair idea that she was up to something. He would have been surprised if she hadn't.

What kept him going for those four months were the love for his kids, the knowledge that the team were doing their best to try and get him released, but most of all that his wife (his _**wife**_, even now still a wonderful novelty thinking of her as that) had come back to protect him on that dark day. She clearly loved him beyond anything he could have imagined in his wildest dreams and every time he'd been attacked in that first few weeks it gave him the strength to fight back, until word got round that he might actually be an innocent man set up by the '_evil state'_, when he was generally left alone. The fact that Max had been to visit him a few weeks in to give him some "information" had interestingly coincided with a much quieter life for him. He'd taken some punches though and had cracked a couple of ribs, and though he was now healed, they were still sore for weeks after. He was feeling his age.

He remembered Brennan walking round fearlessly with that shotgun like she was The Terminator. Even though he was injured at the time, he was aware how amazing she looked: simple clothes, her hair tied back, shooting at the Delta Force guys with absolutely no compunction. He fiddled with his wedding ring, only given back to him by the warden a few hours before. He'd missed it, and feeling the solid piece of gold on his finger felt so good; what it represented was their love... their honour... and now his freedom, at least of a sort.

At least this time Booth knew Brennan had played no part in their forced separation, and she had rallied Caroline, Sweets and the Squint Squad to do enough to at least get him out of jail, if not yet able to entirely clear his name, but that would come. His wife, their team (_my squints_, he thought, proudly) - they were persistent enough to pull it off.

As he stepped over the threshold onto open dewy ground of the early morning light and saw first his wife's car parked alone in the car park, then the woman herself, standing in front of him expectantly, the light of the rising sun causing an almost ethereal glow behind her. She had been his angel so many times before, and as far as he was concerned, doing a damn good job of pulling the same effect now. Booth walked towards her purposefully and her walk broke into a trot until they met, her arms wrapping around his body and ruffling his hair and kissing all over his face. _Kissing him. Which meant he could kiss her again. _As his brain caught up with everything else and reality swept home, he bundled her right back into his arms, held her head still and planted a huge kiss on her lips before pulling back slightly to take her in, his arms on her shoulders.

"Oh God, I missed you so much Bones. You are a sight for sore eyes." She gazed at him lovingly, noting that for once he was being both literal and metaphorical, his eyes red from the relieved tears he was holding back.

"I missed you too. But now I have you back." She said brightly and nipped him on the lips again. "Let's get you ho-" but she trailed off as she realised they wouldn't be going back to the Mighty Hut. They'd discussed it at length in letters and visits and the place felt too tainted to go back. Her face dropped and she looked incredibly sad. "I'm sorry." Booth repeated to her what he'd said weeks ago.

"Home is where my family is, Bones." They gazed at each other and she nodded. She took his hand and walked him back to the car, both holding tight.

As she drove him to their new location, they linked hands again across the console. It was nice to be able to touch him again and Brennan made a mental note to do a lot more meaningful Booth touching after Christine had gone to bed.

"So where's Christine?"

"Dad has her back at the house. She can't wait to see her daddy, I just didn't want her to see you at... that place."

"I understand."

"It's a nice dwelling Booth, and it'll be sufficient while we find another Mighty Hut. The rental was very reasonable and it's in a good location for Christine's day-care and our workplaces - I mean, the Jeffersonian." She looked mortified that she'd put her foot in it again so soon. Booth realised her embarrassment and chose to ignore what she'd said.

"That's great, Bones." He paused and looked across at her, stroking her thumb with his and smiled. "We'll find another Mighty Hut. It'll be even better than the last." Relieved at Booth's own diplomacy, Brennan sighed.

"I know. Like you once told me Booth, new life, new memories." and she squeezed his hand.

"Yeah, Bones. New life, new memories."

* * *

They drove into a suburban neighborhood that Booth recognised as just few miles from where they'd previously lived. As they pulled in to the drive of the nondescript but pleasant looking executive-style home, Christine burst out of the front door with her grandfather following behind.

"Daddy!"

"There's my girl!" and the small but dense molecular package that was Christine Angela Booth flew like a bullet into her father's arms, where she was whirled off the ground and squeezed tight by the pair of toned, muscled arms.

"Oh I missed you, Baby! Daddy's home now."

"I missed you too, Daddy!" Brennan wiped a tear and looked across at Max, who looked back at her kindly. They had a moment, before Booth loosened his grip on his daughter, who began chattering excitedly in one very long sentence about everything she'd been doing at pre-school. Booth waited for her to pause for a moment before exchanging handshakes and hugs with his father-in-law.

"Thanks Max."

"What are grandpas for?" and he winked. Booth knew Bones had been well taken care of in his absence and Max had been a big part of that.

Fresh coffee was brewing in the house, and as Max poured three cups of the finest filtered Arabica beans, Brennan gave him a guided tour of their rental home. He noted the locations of the kitchen, living room, bathrooms (though they had an en-suite) and their bedroom, pausing to note that happily, their bed had come with them. One of the few good things about the siege was that apart from Delta Force shaped footprints all over the carpet, almost all of the action had happened downstairs, so most of the upper floor furniture was untouched by gun fire or machete damage. The rental house was a little bland, magnolia washed on virtually every wall, but some of Christine's pictures were pinned up in the kitchen, and several family photos graced the downstairs rooms, breaking the monotony. Upstairs was similar, but Brennan had put up more photos and reminders she'd salvaged from the old house. Booth particularly noted a photo of himself by Brennan's side of their bed.

"..And this is **my** room, Daddy!" Christine pulled him by the hand to a bedroom filled with stuffed toys and piles of books. It looked homely.

"Well, this is clearly the best room. Can I sleep in here, Sweetheart?"

"Don't be silly Daddy, this room is for me! You have to sleep with Mommy."

"Well, if you insist..." Out of the mouths of babes totally ignorant of the innuendo, Brennan and Booth shared a look and he grinned at her in a way that made Brennan blush.

* * *

After coffees and a catch-up with Max, who then excused himself for the rest of the day to give the young family some time to themselves, Booth spent the day variously in their new home, at the park, a coffee shop drinking more decent coffee, and being dragged round the supermarket by Brennan, who insisted on buying him several of his favourite snacks, even though she still reminded them they were extremely unhealthy; but for his first few days at least, she felt he deserved something special. He thanked her with a kiss on the lips in the car park.

Booth Skyped Parker around lunchtime, knowing that with the five hour time difference his son would be home from school by now. Sure enough, Parker was delighted to hear from his dad and they spoke at length, with the promise to do the same the next day. The sensitive boy has careful not to ask his dad too much about the previous four months and Booth was glad that the conversation was kept light. Things were slotting back into some sort of normality, and for this he was grateful.

By the early evening, the family had eaten dinner together and Christine had reluctantly gone to bed with a promise of more daddy time the next day, and Booth had checked off a further item on his list by reading her several of her favourite stories. As the youngster's eyes began to close, he kissed her on the temple and watched her settle, before trotting downstairs to Brennan, who was sitting on the sofa, reading a journal. Booth noted that despite the different surroundings, the situation was comfortable and domestic, and ultimately just like he'd left it. He popped himself down beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him comfortably and they settled for a few minutes as he switched on the TV and bounced around between channels. It was good to be able to watch what he wanted and have a decent selection of channels to chose from. The jail had banned sports nights after one to many riots between opposing fans.

Brennan too was feeling the relief of having her man home again. Her hand dropped to his knee and she turned to kiss him on the jaw.

"I've missed this so much, Booth. Even just the evening wind-down. I love just sitting with you."

"Me too, Baby."

"I'm sorry it took so long to get you out of there."

"It's OK Bones. I know how hard you were working."

"Every waking hour, Booth." He brushed a stray hair out of her face and kissed her on the nose.

"And for you, that's a lot of hours. Tell me you got some sleep the last four months? And you feel... thinner - and not in a good way. Need to get some meat back your bones, Bones."

"Enough sleep but I admit, I didn't eat well. I needed to stay sane for Christine's sake. But sometimes... it was hard. I was desperate to clear your name, not just for your professional reputation, though of course that is important, but mostly because I wanted you home. Dad helped, Angela and Jack helped. Cam's been really supportive too. They all wanted to help."

"And I will say thank you to each and every one of them, Bones." Booth replied, solemnly, gazing her straight in the eyes. She continued.

"We were pursuing several lines of enquiry and some of these required quite detailed analysis. Even Angela's computers couldn't work everything out and we weren't sure we weren't being monitored. Danny Beck called several times to check on our progress in getting you out. He's been very helpful with some leads, Booth. He wants you to call him as soon as you're ready, he says the CIA might have something for you."

"Well that's great. I'll call him in the next couple of days. I'd just like a little quiet time for a day or so, you know? Just get back into normal life."

"Yeah, I understand, Booth. Cam insisted I take a couple of days off from the lab, which in this situation, I readily accepted. Since you were incarcerated, we've been working with Sweets and Agent Sparling. She's still very green, but appears competent. However, it has been slow going on the cases we've had so far. She is very procedural. It's quite irritating. You know how to bend the rules just enough. She and Sweets do absolutely **_everything_** to the letter." Booth chuckled at her frustration before he got up from the sofa.

"I'm just gonna check on Christine." He could not help himself but go and look at his little girl again.

"Why don't you grab us both a beer from the fridge on the way back?

"Sure, Bones." He went up to his daughter's room and leaned on the doorframe, staring at her for several minutes. Once again, he'd missed a portion of her life and once again it had been taken against his will. The thought angered him, but he put it to one side - he knew he had to. He was free now, at least of a sort and with this new freedom he would get to the bottom of it all. And when he did, people - bad people, would pay dearly.

He slipped downstairs again and returned via picking up the beers from the fridge. Another thing he'd missed.

"Is Christine asleep?" Brennan asked as Booth passed her a cold bottle, sitting down close to her.

"Yeah. Out like a light."

"She was so excited to see her daddy again, I think she was probably exhausted." She smiled at him and stroked his cheek. He took her hand and kissed it.

"I know how she feels."

"Really?" Brennan looked disappointed.

"Oh, well of course", he chuckled, "I'm not _that_ exhausted." and he waggled his eyebrows. Brennan laughed, their hands still entwined.

"I'd understand, Booth. It's been a tiring day." Although of course, that was the last thing she'd wanted. Their love life before that day four months ago had been utterly wonderful since they'd come to an understanding about Booth calling off their wedding, even before she'd had full disclosure from Booth about Pelant's threats. She had missed him and all the wonderful things he did to her, and that she did to him.

"It has been a tiring day, but good-tired. I could think of nothing better than to end it by making love to my wife." He took the bottle of beer out of her hand and placed it on the coffee table next to him. He leant in and began to kiss her and soon they were making out like horny teenagers. Their hands started to roam to places they'd both missed for several months and within five minutes both were pretty hot and bothered.

"I think we should take this upstairs." Brennan gasped, short of breath, but for all the right reasons.

"OK," he panted.

"Can you give me a few minutes please? There's something I wanted to do."

"That sounds mysterious." He raised his eyebrow at her.

"I can be very mysterious, Booth" and she gave a coquettish smile. "Why don't you lock up the house? That way you can familiarise yourself with all the locks and bolts. Satisfy yourself that everything is safe."

"I can do that." And with another searing kiss, she disappeared off upstairs. He chuckled as he had a pretty good idea of exactly what she was up to. Subtlety had never exactly been her strong point...

* * *

Several minutes later, Booth had completed his task, giving Brennan enough time to ready herself with whatever primping and preening she was doing, and he headed up to the bedroom, which he found on the second attempt, having first walked into a closet.

There, standing in the bedroom looking slightly awkward in a way that reminded him of that first moment she stepped out in _that dress_ on their undercover trip to Vegas, was his beautiful wife, dressed in the same lingerie Booth had bought her just after Christine was born. She wore the underwear set in midnight blue, the one that bought out the same flecks of colour in her eyes. Her hair was curled a little, perfume and a little fresh makeup had been applied. She looked stunning, and he felt like a dying man who had just found an oasis in the desert.

"Wow." His jaw was somewhere on the floor. He picked it up just long enough to follow up with "You look..." before trailed off again in total awe of her. He knew she'd probably been preparing herself to look alluring but this - this was beyond alluring.

Brennan stood in front of him a little self-consciously, now they were here, not entirely sure how to play the situation. He was looking at her like she was the beer on the counter in the final scene of _Ice Cold in Alex__, _and he was John Mills. Not that she didn't like being appreciated by her husband, but after such a long time she'd forgotten just how intense that feeling could be.

"Thank you." She responded with a coy smile. He stepped in front of her and ran his finger along her bralette strap. He followed up with a kiss to the same spot and all of a sudden everything rushed back to her.

"You're welcome."

"And you," she said looking him up and down, her confidence improved and now showing a smirk, "are now very over-dressed."

"Oh really?"

"Yes."

"You wanna help me with that?"

"Yes" she said without pausing, and her eyes briefly drifted downwards to his belt before he lifted his arms up and she pulled his t-shirt up over his head for him, running her fingers appreciatively over his pecs on her way back down. He grabbed her wrists and they crashed together impulsively, hands and kisses trailing all over each other. Multitasking impressively, Brennan pulled at Booth's belt and before long he was left in only his prison regulation boxers, which he'd forgotten to change before he left. Somewhere back at jail were a rather natty pair of Calvin Kleins.

It all moved rather quickly after that. They'd both wanted to go slowly and savour the moment, but apparently four months was way too much time for the lovers to last terribly long and it was only a matter of minutes before they were left breathless and sated next to each other on the bed. Brennan's lingerie was discarded on the floor alongside Booth's shorts. They grinned at each other.

"Haven't lost it."

"Nope. We definitely still have it."

"You wanna go again?"

"Yep."

And they were in each other's arms again in a second.

* * *

The early morning came and Booth woke after a particularly lucid dream where he'd made love to his wife several times, to find his very same wife naked in his arms, snuggling up to him. Although the surroundings had changed, the bed was still the same, and the sex - well, four months of pent-up sexual tension had made for an explosive night. _Thank God,_ he thought to himself.

He lay in the bed thinking for a while. It was still early and if previous routines were anything to by, Christine wouldn't be up for at least another ninety minutes, which was plenty of time for some more fireworks.

But before he woke Brennan, he contemplated.

He was out of prison and back with his family. He would find a way back, whether it was to the FBI, the CIA or whatever else came up. He would get to the bottom of all that crap, every last detail of it, and when he did, the world was going to know _**everything**_. But that journey was just beginning and in the meantime, he had far more important work to do this morning, as a warm hand slid across his stomach...

* * *

**As always, reviews are really appreciated, thanks :) x**


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